Hi forum, I am trying to setup my DirecTV HD DVR with my windows media center but I don't know how. I have satellite in 1 and satellite in 2 but i dont have a satellite or cable out Coaxial cable port. Have any of you succeeded with setting this up with windows media center? Thanks in advance.

To my knowledge(and I have Windows XP Media Center Edition O/S on my networked PC) there is no way to have DirecTV service and Windows Media Center interact, regardless of connections. You can, however, use the HD DVR's Media Share feature(if your HR24 is networked to the same router your PC uses or you have Whole Home DVR Service installed) to play Music, Videos and Photo Slideshows from the PC using your HD DVR. If you are interested in that start a new post in the Media Share forum and someone will assist you with getting that working.

With the proper AV capture hardware on the Media Center PC, it's possible to interface to a DirecTV Receiver to record satellite channels on the Media Center PC. A remote "IR repeater eye" is also needed. It's tricky, but possible.

Well, then your only connection option is to get an "RF Modulator" to convert the HR24's composite (yellow RCA video and red/white audio) output to an RF signal on Ch3 or Ch4 to feed your Media Center PC's TV Tuner. Hopefully your Media Center PC has the appropriate Media Center software and "IR Repeater" to enable it to control channel changes on your DirecTV DVR. Or are you simply wanting to view the DVR's recordings on your PC? You already have a DVR, so there's little benefit to setting it up as Media Center DVR.

Somehow(all respect to DirecTV2PC users who want to watch DirecTV recordings while multitasking) I just can't wrap my mind around why so many users are bent on watching DirecTV content on a PC monitor, when they have the equipment to watch it on a nice BIG HDTV:0)

P.S.

OOOO..OOOO...OOO I've got it now!!! The PC is in their "mancave" and the wife has kicked them outa the den while she watches Lifetime HD movies:0)

OK, lets take a look at why a Windows Media Center solution would work in ways that Directv2PC won't.

So somebody went through all the trouble to set a Home Theater PC. They've got all the fun 10-foot interfaces installed like Windows Media Center, XBMC, Hulu Desktop, Netflix in WMC, and countless other services like UPnP / DLNA, Spotify, and YouTube. Now from this one interface you can access everything. All the services on the internet, all of your files on all the machines in your home group, except the DirecTV service.

Without the capture device and serial / IR control of the DirecTV box, you have to change the input on your TV between the 2 when you want to change what you're watching. With the capture and control interface, you just pick Watch Live TV from the Windows Media Center menu and from one interface you have everything, You never have to change the input on your TV and everything is always accessible on the fly.

Granted, if you are using DirecTV2PC, you can just switch over from the WMC to DirecTV2PC and get much of the same functionality. If your receiver supports this feature, it may work just fine for you. But if you don't have a receive that supports DirecTV2PC, like my self, you're still stuck with the capture device option.

Good explanation, jreiche. The whole point of wanting to be able to use Windows Media Center computers with Directv with is so you can have a single point of access. A single interface that can handle and record the satellite TV, watch any saved movies, TV, music, photos and other content from your local network, and work with all the internet services too. You can use one of several different styles of remotes that work with Media Center and choose the one(s) you like.

It's like we've regressed in technology to having to have these huge boxes installed all over the house. My suspicion is that this is all driven and maintained by the TV providers, whether Cable or Satellite, wanting to make sure we pay for every feature we want. They control and know the number of TVs we have, what channels we watch, how long we watch, what we record, etc., and what type of equipment we have, along with the interface and remote controls we use. And that's business. That's the free market at work, and I support that system. It's just up to us as customers to demand something different if we want it.

So, this is what I would like to see. A product from Directv such as Silicon Dust's HDHomeRun, that connects via coax cable to (multiple) OTA antennas and/or analog Cable TV, and presents itself as a tuner for Windows Media Center to use. Either this, or a PC card that I can install in a computer. Or license the technology/encryption to a supplier(s) to do the same. I would gladly pay a reasonable price to Directv for this. It would all us to receive the shows we want in a raw form and let us decide how and where to distribute and record them in our homes. The gauntlet is thrown. Can you do it?

I'm sure that Peds48 did not mean to imply that you were pirating. His comment pointed out that Directv was not going to open up and allow unfettered playback and copying due to the proliferation of illegal copies in such an environment. Their recordings are encrypted to the DVR they are recorded on thus analog recordings are the sum total of the copying available.

Then I'd like to see them make and sell (or license) equipment allowing the recording of TV to our own equipment. Heck, analog would be fine with me too. I was happy with that when I had a single cable feeding all channels of analog cable TV.

Directv does not care whether you copy or not. Is the networks lobying in Congress that are trying to make this impossible. Directv just follow the rules. Take note of the Blu-ray players that do not have component outputs anymore, and if they do those outputs are set for 480P only. this goes to show you how the networks or Hollywood go to protect their content

Urrrg! What's to protect? I don't want to do anything more or less than they already allow to be done, except that I want to be able to do it on with my own equipment/setup. I'll pay for the content. I just don't want to have to have another big box with its own remote that I need to switch over to like I did in 1986 when I wanted to play Atari! I'm not a criminal and I'm starting to resent having to defend what seems like a very reasonable request. I'm not pirating or stealing or trying to get away with anything. I want to be able to plug the sat dish into something the Media Center can use to show me TV. And if I want to record Underwater Basket Weaving with Earl Jessup at 3:15 AM every Thursday, I can mash a button on the same remote I've been using for 6 years, and it'll record.

I want to hear a little more, "Yeah, that sounds kinda neat, and I'd like to see something like that." instead of telling my they won't do it. I've read that Dish worked on it a few years back, but didn't follow through. Let's at least ask for more choices rather than give up and take what we're given. There's way too much of that going on already.

The GenieGO device allows recording of programming recorded on a HD DVR to be copied to a laptop for viewing out of network. That recording is for entertainment purposes only however, and it expires within 30 days.

I not implying to you are or want to pirate the content, however not everybody is like you and because of them we have the rules that are in place now. Technology has changed since the Atari days, and for better or for worse we have to leave with those changes.

I guess you have not heard of the "Betamax Case". Although in this particular case, judgement was in favor of Sony and therefore the consumers, this is NOT the case now.

I have been using WMC and recording HD with direct TV for several years. I use the Hauppauge HD PVR. WMC detects the satellite signal and you can watch/record. It's a little hard to set up but Hauqqauge has great docs to help you out. It's working under Win 7 but I don't think it will work right now under Win 8.

Probably best to start your own new thread rather than tag onto this old thread. Most likely the problem is with your RCA/SVideo adapter losing the chroma (color) signal. What model DVR/Receiver do you have? Some of them have both RCA and SVideo OUT, so you wouldn't need an adapter.

I have. I use a Hauppauge HDPVR with component from the DirecTV STB to the HDPVR, output from the HDPVR is USB to a computer. There is an MCE driver native for doing just this. The hard part is channel changes from within MCE. You will need to either setup the "IRBlaster" which is kind of flakey and can miss channel changes, or use the serial port on your PC connected to the USB "service" port of the STB. There are several solutions to do that. I have had an HTPC up and running with DirecTV for well over 5 years now. I have also run a Linux MythTV system and a windows SageTV system with success, all with serial port control of various STBs over the years. From the old D11, to my current D24. The setup can be a little daunting and the documentation available on the web is catch as catch can, but it can be done. I am proof of that. I always hoped for some interest from inside of DirecTV to help their customers would happen with this, but hope in one hand and poop in the other and see which one fills up first....

Some may ask why when a DVR has much the same functionality....it is a lot of trouble, or can be, but computers are my hobby, and I rather enjoy the challenge of making complex system setups work.